London, ON area men plead guilty to sexual assault for exposing "partners" to HIV

Men withheld HIV status
Both plead guilty to aggravated sexual assault
By JANE SIMS
The London Free Press

Both men were ordered to tell their intimate partners they were HIV positive.
And both pleaded guilty yesterday to having unprotected sex with unsuspecting girlfriends.
Edward Kelly, 32, and Tendai Mazambani, 34, each pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault in separate cases. Both are to be sentenced later.

Kelly, 32, has a previous conviction in the London area for the same offence in 2003.
Acting Middlesex Crown attorney Mary Potter told Superior Court Justice Johanne Morissette that Kelly was diagnosed with the HIV virus in October 1997.

In September 2002, he was issued a public health order to tell all his sexual partners he was infected and to wear a condom.

But on June 3, 2005, he met a 37-year-old woman, whose identity is protected by court order, on Quest, an Internet personal chat line, court was told. They hit it off, met in person the next day and had protected sex two days later.

Kelly did not tell her he was HIV positive, court heard.

On June 11, 2005, they had sex again, this time without protection. And he did not tell her about his medical status, Potter said.

At the end of July, the woman believed Kelly had not been upfront with her and was often unreliable when setting up times to see her. She broke off the relationship. In August 2005, Kelly was arrested and his parole was revoked. Eight months later, he was released from custody and called the woman.

She picked him up a week later. They continued to be friends, Potter said, until the woman was asked by one of Kelly's roommates if she knew about his HIV.

A day later, on May 2, 2006, the woman called police. Kelly was arrested the next day.
The woman has been tested and remains HIV negative.

Kelly's lawyer, Robert Farrington, said the Crown had agreed to delay the sentencing to Sept. 18 to give Kelly time to put his personal affairs in order. He has been on bail since May 2007.
Mazambani's plea was to one charge, but seven more remain outstanding until his sentencing July 31.

"Guilty," he said softly from the prisoner's box to the charge involving a woman he knew socially in 2006.

Geoff Beasley, acting for the Crown, said between May and September 2006 Mazambani had sex with the woman. They had three conversations about HIV and Mazambani denied having the virus, the woman said.

Mazambani never told the woman his HIV status, Beasley said, and she has said she would never had engaged in sexual relations with him had she known. She said she didn't find out until after the relationship ended. She has been tested for the virus since and remains HIV negative.

Mazambani's sentencing was adjourned for a week to give the victim a chance to attend.